A farce: Four Ukraine players and the team manager tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday. According to the guests, of course, they had no close contact with their teammates. The Leipzig health department, which can only trust the honesty of the information, had to accept this. The players in Poland stood together on the pitch, traveled to Leipzig together, lived together in a hotel, but, what luck, how coincidentally they were always far enough away from their teammates so that the team did not have to be quarantined. Test them all again, ignoring the incubation period, and you could play.
The result: Germany won their Nations League game against Ukraine 3-1 (2-1). Read the game report here.
The first half: Roman Yaremchuk had brought the guests in the lead in the 12th minute, Leroy Sané with a swerve from the right wing into the middle and a finish in the left corner ensured the equalizer (23). In the 33rd minute, Timo Werner scored 2-1 for the DFB-Elf. Leon Goretzka had prepared both goals, the first with a nice through pass, the second with a technically strong direct transfer to Werner.
First nothing, then a lot: Sané hadn’t scored at all in his first 15 international matches, and in the nine that followed he made the scorers list six times. With a defensive man like Matthias Ginter behind him, Sané was also able to concentrate almost exclusively on the offensive.
The second half: Oleksandr Zinchenko hit the post in the 52nd minute after a shot deflected by Niklas Süle, Werner increased to 3-1 in the 64th minute after Ginter’s preparatory work. Marlos put the ball on the post for the second time (75th), the third goal was scored by Júnior Moraes (82nd). Striking: After a long phase of “Knowledge are more important than results”, national coach Joachim Löw seems to have switched back to the “Internationals should be won” mode: He left his leading team intact until the last quarter of an hour and only changed in the 76th minute for the first time.
Manuel Neuer on par with Sepp Maier: The national goalkeeper caught up with Sepp Maier with his 95th international match. No goalkeeper has played more games for the German national team than the two of them. Maier’s 95th and last international match was a 3: 1 in Iceland, Neuer also goes into his only record game with the swing of a 3: 1.
Matchday number six: Said game will probably take place for Neuer on Tuesday in Spain (8.45 p.m., live ticker: SPIEGEL.de). With a draw there, after the draw of the Spaniards in Switzerland, the group win for the Löw team and participation in the Final Four tournament would be perfect. Even more important: By beating Ukraine, you have secured your place in the number one lottery pool in the upcoming draw for the World Cup qualification and thus avoid the toughest opponents.
Missed opportunity: Of course, the game against Ukraine was played according to the rules. No Uefa guideline was broken, no veto of the health department ignored. “We trust the health authorities who have worked thoroughly,” quoted the national team’s Twitter account team doctor Tim Meyer. “In addition, the double negative test gives security, most recently even in the afternoon before the game,” said Meyer. Meanwhile, the Nations League game Romania against Norway planned for Sunday was canceled on Saturday evening. Because of the positive test by full-back Omar Elabdellaoui on Friday, local health authorities are demanding that the entire team be quarantined for ten days. Reason according to information from the Norwegian broadcaster NRK: Despite the negative tests, players could be infected. A risk that the players in Leipzig could have saved.
